Adjustable pedal assembly

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an adjustable pedal assembly. The adjustable pedal assembly includes a pedal arm hingeably mounted to a support bracket, a pedal part disposed at an end portion of the pedal arm, a gear assembly fixedly mounted to the pedal arm, and driving means for driving the gear assembly. The gear assembly includes a first gear part for receiving a driving force of the driving means, and a second gear part engaged with the first gear part for moving the gear assembly according to a driving direction of the first gear part to thereby change a position of the pedal arm.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Koreanpatent application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office onAug. 25, 2005, and assigned Korean Patent Application Serial No.10-2005-0078087, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an adjustable pedal assembly, and moreparticularly, to such a pedal assembly which is position-adjustable in abrake pedal assembly and an accelerating pedal assembly used for drivinga vehicle.

2. Background of the Related Art

In general, a pedal which is operated by a driver's stepping is mountedat an end portion of a pedal assembly of a vehicle, and it is oftennecessary to change a relative position between the pedal and the driveraccording to the driver's body conditions. In order to change therelative position therebetween, it is typical to adjust a position of aseat of the driver forwardly or rearwardly. That is, if a distancebetween the pedal and the driver is far, the seat is moved forwardly,but if the distance between the pedal and the driver is near, the seatis moved rearwardly, whereby the relative position between the pedal andthe driver can be adjusted.

However, if a distance between a driver and a steering wheel of thevehicle is too short, a safety problem may occur to him or her at thetime of a vehicle accident. Particularly, if the vehicle is equippedwith an air bag, there is a serious danger of an injury since the airbag hits the driver before a great expansion pressure of the air bag isappropriately reduced.

To address and solve the above problem, an adjustable pedal assembly hasbeen developed to appropriately adjust the relative position between thepedal and the driver only by adjusting the position of a brake pedal oran accelerating pedal without changing the position of the seat. Now,such a pedal assembly is equipped on some of the vehicles beingproduced.

However, the adjustable pedal assembly which is developed andcommercialized now is very complex in structure, restricted ininstallation and operation space, and has too much components, so thatit has several problems such as instability in operation, deteriorationin durability and difficulty in assembly, etc.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,767 discloses an adjustable controlpedal apparatus. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,767, a bracket is mounted on apedal arm, and the relative position between the bracket and the pedalarm is adjusted by an operation of a gear assembly mounted on thebracket, so that the position of the pedal can be adjusted. However, inthe above structure, there has been a problem in that since the bracketis an indispensable constituent element, a volume of the entire systemis increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the aboveproblems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide anadjustable pedal assembly, which is simple in structure andinstallation, little restricted in an installation space, improved indurability, and reduced in manufacturing costs, and ensures an exactoperation.

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, thereis provided a adjustable pedal assembly including: a pedal arm hingeablymounted to a support bracket; a pedal part disposed at an end portion ofthe pedal arm; a gear assembly fixedly mounted to the pedal arm; anddriving means for driving the gear assembly, wherein the gear assemblyincludes a first gear part for receiving a driving force of the drivingmeans, and a second gear part engaged with the first gear part andmoving the gear assembly according to a driving direction of the firstgear part to thereby change a position of the pedal arm.

The first gear part is a worm gear, the second gear part includes apinion engaged with the worm gear and a jack screw engaged with thepinion, and the gear assembly is moved by receiving lateral pressurefrom the pinion.

In case where the pedal assembly is a brake pedal assembly, it ispreferable that the jack screw is connected to a push rod. However, incase where the pedal assembly is an accelerating pedal assembly, it ispreferable that the jack screw is connected in such a way as to permitan operation of an accelerating cable. It is preferable that the pushrod and the jack screw are connected with each other by means of arotary joint.

In the case of the accelerating pedal assembly, the pedal assemblyfurther comprises a linkage pivotably connected to the jack screw bymeans of a rotary joint, an accelerating pedal sliding part slidablymoved by an operation of the linkage and connected to the acceleratingcable, and a guide member for guiding the slidable movement of theaccelerating pedal sliding part.

It is preferable that the guide member is provided with an arc-shapedgroove formed thereon for guiding the accelerating pedal sliding part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description ofthe preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pedal assembly according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a gear assembly according tothe present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing states before and after aposition adjustment when the present invention is applied to a brakepedal assembly;

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing states before and after aposition adjustment of a brake push rod and the gear assembly of thepedal assembly illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a connection structure of the push rod, a brakepedal arm and the gear assembly when the present invention is applied tothe brake pedal assembly;

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing states before and after theposition adjustment when the present invention is applied to anaccelerating pedal assembly;

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view showing states before and after theposition adjustment of a linkage and the gear assembly of the pedalassembly illustrated in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a connection structure of an accelerating pedalguide member, an accelerating pedal sliding part, the linkage, the gearassembly, and an accelerating pedal arm;

FIG. 9 is a structural view of the accelerating pedal sliding part andthe guide member; and

FIG. 10 is a structural view of a stopper for restricting an operationrange of the accelerating pedal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pedal assembly according to thepresent invention. In the drawing, the left side is an example where thepresent invention is applied to a brake pedal assembly, and the rightside is an example where the present invention is applied to anaccelerating pedal assembly.

First, the brake pedal assembly will be described hereinafter. The brakepedal assembly according to the present invention is adapted to be fixedto a brake pedal bracket 15 to fixed to a frame of a vehicle, andincludes a brake pedal arm 11 b hingeably mounted to the brake pedalbracket 15, a pedal 11 a disposed at an end portion of the brake pedalarm 11 b, and a gear assembly 12 fixedly mounted to the brake pedal arm11 b.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the gear assembly 12. The gearassembly 12 includes a worm gear 12 a supplied with a driving force fromdriving means (not shown), a pinion 12 b engaged with the worm gear 12a, and a jack screw 12 c engaged with the pinion 12 b. The worm gear 12a, the pinion 12 b and the jack screw 12 c are accommodated in the gearassembly 12 by a first side wall 12 d and a second side wall 12 e. Thejack screw 12 c protrudes outwardly from the second side wall 12 e. Thefirst and second side walls 12 d and 12 e are coupled to each other.Such structure of the gear assembly 12 can be applied to both the brakepedal assembly and the accelerating pedal assembly in the same way.

FIG. 5 shows a connected relation of the brake pedal arm 11 b, the gearassembly 12 and a push rod of the brake pedal assembly. It is preferablethat both end portions of a push rod 14 are connected to the gearassembly 12 by means of a rotary joint so as to have a degree of freedomin rotation. The reason is to prevent a mechanical structure phenomenonfrom occurring when the brake pedal assembly is adjusted in position.The gear assembly 12 is forcedly coupled to the brake pedal arm 11 b orconnected by means of a pin 12 f.

Next, a structure of the accelerating pedal assembly will be described.The structure of the accelerating pedal assembly is shown in the rightside of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 6 to 8.

The accelerating pedal assembly is hingeably mounted to an acceleratingpedal bracket 21 fixed on a frame of a vehicle. Differently from thebrake pedal assembly which is hingeably mounted at an end thereof to thebracket, the accelerating pedal assembly is hingeably mounted to theaccelerating pedal bracket 21 by means of a hinge bracket 21 b-1 at anapproximately central portion thereof, but not at an end portion. Thehinge bracket 21 b-1 is fixed to the accelerating pedal bracket 21.

Also, the gear assembly 12 is directly fixed to an accelerating pedalarm 16 b, and at which time, its fixing method is the same as the brakepedal assembly. However, a linkage 18 is connected to an end portion ofthe jack screw 12 c. The linkage 18 is also connected to an acceleratingpedal sliding part 19. It is preferable that the linkage 18 is connectedto the jack screw 12 c and the accelerating pedal sliding part 19 bymeans of a rotary joint. The reason is to prevent the mechanicalstructure phenomenon, similarly to the case of the push rod 14.

An accelerating cable (not shown) is connected to the accelerating pedalsliding part 19, and the slidable movement of the accelerating pedalsliding part 19 is controlled by a guide member 20. The guide member 20is provided with guide grooves 20 a-1 and 20 a-2 formed thereon along apath where the accelerating pedal sliding part 19 is moved. Furthermore,the guide member 20 is also provided with a stopper 20 b for restrictingthe slidable movement of the accelerating pedal sliding part 19 within aproper range. More concretely, the accelerating pedal sliding part 19 isrestricted in movement by the bracket 21 a when the accelerating pedalarm 16 is in a completely closed state, and the maximum movement rangeof the accelerating pedal arm 16 b is restricted by the stopper 20 b asshown in FIG. 10 when acceleration is applied by an operation of theaccelerating pedal arm 16.

During the acceleration, to uniformly maintain an operation angle of thelinkage 18 and minimize a vertical interference force against the guidegrooves, which may be generated between the accelerating pedal guidemember 20 and the accelerating pedal sliding part 19, the guide grooves20 a-1 and 20 a-2 are formed in an arc shape as shown in FIG. 10. It ispreferable that the arc-shaped guide grooves are formed on a pedal armhinge 21 b-1. However, as described in the claims which will beexplained later, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that any arcshape is included in the scope of claims of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the operation of the pedal assembly according to thepresent invention will be described.

First, the operation of the pedal assembly generated at the time of thechange of the relative position between the pedal assembly and a driverwill be described. Since the brake pedal assembly and the acceleratingpedal assembly are substantially the same in operation, only theoperation of the brake pedal assembly will be described.

To adjust the relative position between the brake pedal assembly and thedriver, the driving means connected to the worm gear 12 a is operated.The driving means rotates the worm gear 12 a in the clockwise directionor in the counterclockwise direction. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view ofthe brake pedal assembly before and after the position adjustment, andFIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the push rod 14 and the jack screw 12c before and after the position adjustment. In the drawings, the statebefore the position adjustment is indicated with a thick line and thestate after the position adjustment is indicated with a thin line.

When the driving means is operated, the worm gear 12 a is rotated, andthe pinion 12 b engaged with the worm gear 12 a is dependently rotated.At this time, the pinion 12 b performs a translational motion along anaxial direction of the jack screw 12 c through a mutual action with thejack screw 12 c which is processed into the pinion 12 b, and presses thefirst side wall 12 d of the gear assembly 12. That is, the gear assembly12 is moved in the rearward direction of the vehicle, and the brakepedal 11 a fixed to the gear assembly 12 is moved toward the driver.When it is judged that the brake pedal 11 a reaches a proper position,the driver stops the operation of the driving means, and then, a newposition of the brake pedal 11 a is set. If the driver wants to changethe position of the brake pedal 11 a in a direction in which the brakepedal 11 a becomes more distant from the driver, the driver manipulatesthe operation direction of the driving means in the opposite direction.Then, the pinion 12 b presses and moves the second side wall 12 e of thegear assembly 12, and so, the position of the brake pedal 11 a ischanged in the direction in which the brake pedal 11 a becomes moredistant from the driver.

During the position adjustment of the brake pedal assembly, the pedalarm 11 b is rotated about a hinge shaft 15 a-1 of the bracket 15.However, since the gear assembly 12 and the pedal arm 11 b are fixed asdescribed above, they maintain a uniform angle, so that the connectedpoint of the gear assembly 12 and the push rod 14 performs thetranslational motion in a vertical direction of the vehicle. At thistime, if the push rod is completely restricted, the mechanical structurephenomenon occurs. To prevent the mechanical structure phenomenon, asdescribed above, the end portions of the push rod 14 are connected tothe gear assembly by means of the rotary joint to provide the push rod14 with the degree of freedom in rotation.

In the accelerating pedal assembly, it is preferable that both endportions of the linkage are connected to the gear assembly by means ofthe rotary joint in order to prevent the mechanical structurephenomenon.

Hereinafter, a braking operation and an acceleration operationvehicleried out after the position adjustment of the pedal assembly 11or 16 will be described. First, the braking operation will be described.

For the braking operation, the driver applies power to the brake pedal11 a, and then, the brake pedal arm 11 b is rotated in the clockwisedirection about the hinge shaft 15 b-1 of the bracket 15. By therotation, the gear assembly 12 fixed on the brake pedal arm 11 b ismoved in the frontward direction of the vehicle, namely, in a brakingdirection. Therefore, the push rod 14 connected with the gear assemblyis moved in the front direction of the vehicle.

The power transmitted through the push rod 14 is changed according to anoperation angle of the push rod 14 little by little, and particularly, avertical power of the vehicle is generated at a connected portionbetween a booster, which is a braking force distribution deviceinstalled in front of the push rod 14, and the push rod 14. The drivermay feel a discontinuous pedal reaction force at the time point whendirections of the vertical power cross each other. To solve the aboveproblem, it is preferable that the operation angle between the push rod14 and the ground horizontal line is kept in such a way as to have apositive value or a negative value in all areas at the time of braking.

Now, the acceleration will be described. When the driver applies powerto the accelerating pedal 16 a, the accelerating pedal arm 16 b isrotated in the clockwise direction about the hinge shaft 21 b-1 of theaccelerating pedal bracket 21. By the rotation, as shown in FIG. 6, thegear assembly 12 fixed on the accelerating pedal arm 16 b is moved tothe rear of the vehicle, namely in an acceleration direction.

Then, the linkage 18 connected to the jack screw 12 c is moved towardthe rear of the vehicle, and the accelerating pedal sliding part 19hingeably coupled with the linkage 18 is moved slidably along theaccelerating pedal guide members 20 a-1 and 20 a-2. By the slidablemovement of the accelerating pedal sliding part 19, an acceleratingcable connected to the accelerating pedal sliding part 19 is pulled, sothat the vehicle is accelerated.

As described above, the adjustable pedal assembly according to thepresent invention is very simple in structure and installation positionof the gear assembly for movement of the pedal arm, ensures reliabilityin operation due to the appropriate arrangement of the linkages and thepush rod, and reduces manufacturing costs since the number of thecomponents is relatively reduced. Moreover, the adjustable pedalassembly according to the present invention can greatly increasedurability by lowering an occurrence rate of troubles of the components,and be easily applied to a restricted installation space.

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by theembodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodimentswithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

1. An adjustable pedal assembly comprising: a pedal arm hingeablymounted to a support bracket; a pedal part disposed at an end portion ofthe pedal arm; a gear assembly fixedly mounted to the pedal arm; anddriving means for driving the gear assembly, wherein the gear assemblyincludes a first gear part for receiving driving force of the drivingmeans, and a second gear part engaged with the first gear part, saidsecond gear part moving the gear assembly in a driving direction of thefirst gear part, thereby changing a position of the pedal arm.
 2. Theadjustable pedal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first gearpart is a worm gear, the second gear part includes a pinion engaged withthe worm gear and a jack screw engaged with the pinion, and the gearassembly is moved by lateral pressure from the pinion.
 3. The adjustablepedal assembly according to claim 2, wherein the jack screw is connectedto a push rod, and the pedal assembly is a brake pedal assembly.
 4. Theadjustable pedal assembly according to claim 2, wherein the jack screwis connected in such a way as to permit an operation of an acceleratingcable, and the pedal assembly is an accelerating pedal assembly.
 5. Theadjustable pedal assembly according to claim 4, further comprising: alinkage pivotally connected to the jack screw by means of a rotaryjoint; an accelerating pedal sliding part slidably moved by an operationof the linkage and connected to the accelerating cable; and a guidemember for guiding the slidable movement of the accelerating pedalsliding part.
 6. The adjustable pedal assembly according to claim 5,wherein the guide member is provided with an arc-shaped groove formedthereon for guiding the accelerating pedal sliding part therealong. 7.The adjustable pedal assembly according to claim 3, wherein the jackscrew and the push rod are connected with each other by means of arotary joint.